Clothing piece

ABSTRACT

A garment of a stretch fabric knit in a fine-meshed manner, particularly a pair of cycling pants, comprises a front part ( 10 ) and a rear part ( 12 ). The front part ( 10 ) and the rear part ( 12 ) are knit simultaneously. Along at least one connecting edge ( 14,18 ), the front part is knit together with the rear part in a seamless manner. Thus, a seamless garment is manufactured. Since the garment does not have any bead-like seams, the occurrence of pressure marks and chafes caused by the seams is avoided.

The invention relates to a garment made of a stretch fabric knit in afine-meshed manner. Particularly, the invention relates to sportswearsuch as sport shorts and cycling pants.

Known garments of stretch fabric are mostly made of two fine-meshed knitparts with a front part and a rear part. The front part is sewn togetherwith the rear part. Upon sewing together, bead-like seams are producedwhich are particularly disagreeable in garments of stretch fabric whichgenerally have a close fit at the body. If the seams are located atpositions where pressure is exerted, e.g., by a cycle saddle, painfulpressure marks may be produced at the body. Further, the seams may causechafes at the body when the garment moves in the region of the seam andthus chafes at the skin.

Further, it is known to produce sport shorts such as cycling pants madeof stretch fabric such that a tube is knit. From one side, the tube isthen cut in in longitudinal direction and sewn along this edge of cutsuch that two trouser legs are formed. In doing so, another bead-likeseam is produced at the inside of the thighs as well as in the seatregion of the cycling pants. Pressure marks and chafes are particularlydisagreeable at these body spots.

From DE 79 22 268 U1, a pair of cycling pants is known which compriseselastically stretchable portions in the form of longitudinal strips ofknitwear. It cannot be gathered how these portions of the pants arefastened to the remaining portions of the pants.

From U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,233, a pair of pants for cyclists is furtherknown which is made of synthetic nonwoven and heat-deformable leather.The pants are made of a single piece.

It is the object of the invention to increase the wearing comfort ofgarments of stretch fabric knit in a fine-meshed manner, particularly ofcycling pants.

Especially, it is the object of the invention to avoid the occurrence ofpressure marks, chafes and the like.

This object is solved, according to the invention, with the features ofclaim 1.

According to the invention, the garment is seamless. Thus, the entiregarment does not have any bead-like seams. Particularly at those spotsespecially critical in cycling pants, for example, no bead-like seamsare provided. Hence, the pants according to the invention do notcomprise any bead-like seams at the thighs or in the seat region.

Since the pants according to the invention do not have any seams, a goodelasticity of the pants is ensured. In the region of seams, a so-calledblocking occurs since cloth is not extensible or only very restrictedlyextensible in the region of seams. This blocking also occurs directlynext to the seam. Particularly in the crotch and seat region of thepants, respectively, an especially high stress as to the stretchingability of the pants, e.g. cycling pants or other sportswear, occurs.Since the pants according to the invention have no seam in the crotchand seat region, respectively, damage to the pants such as a tearing-upof seams, for example, cannot happen.

According to the invention, for manufacturing a seamless garment ofstretch fabric knit in a fine-meshed manner, a front part and a rearpart are knit independently of each other. The knitting is donesimultaneously so that the two parts are manufactured in parallel witheach other. During the manufacture, the two parts are arranged such withrespect to each other that the outer edges are adjacent to each other.During the knitting procedure, the front part and the rear part are knittogether at a connecting edge without a seam. Thereby, it is possible tomanufacture a garment which is completely seamless. Such a knitting isalso effected along the inner seam of the legs of the pants so that nobead-like seam is produced in this region, either. Thus, the stretchfabric is smooth and free of beads along the connecting edges at bothsides thereof.

Since no seam is produced along the connecting edge due to the knitting,both the inside and the outside of the garment are free of beads andsmooth. Particularly with tight-fitting garments such as cycling pants,this has the advantage that no pressure marks and chafes can be causedby seams. Because of the knitting along the connecting edge, this regionis also free of grooves and steps.

Preferably, the garment is manufactured from the same yarn. This meansthat apart from additional elements such as pockets and the like whichare attached later on, the entire garment consists of one and the samematerial and no material with other properties is used in the productionof seams.

To produce an uninterrupted connecting edge that does not have any holesand the like either, each row of the front part is knit together with arow of the rear part. This means that upon knitting the front part rowby row, the yarn of both parts is guided such when an outer edge isrespectively reached that they are connected with each other, i.e., knittogether. Hence, at each connecting edge, the number of connectionpoints between the front and the rear part corresponds to the number ofrows of the front and rear parts, respectively. To shape the garment,the number of rows of the front and rear parts may vary by a few rows.

Preferably, the knitting of the front part to the rear part is effectedduring the knitting procedure of the front and rear parts. Thus, thefront and rear parts are not knit separately from each other and joinedsubsequently but rather already connected with each other during theknitting procedure. This has the advantage that the additionaloperational step of connecting is eliminated and the connection isfurther effected with the yarn used for the front and rear parts,respectively. An additional thread for connecting the two parts is notrequired.

Even in garments that are knit together according to the invention anddo not have a seam, there is, in any case, an edge at least beingvisible against the light along the connecting edge. This is an edgemerely visually visible which cannot be felt upon wearing. To reduce thevisibility of this edge, the mesh width at the connecting edge issubstantially as large as the mesh width of the front and rear parts. Inthe ideal case, it is possible to connect the front and rear parts witheach other such that even along the connecting edge, no line is visibleany more.

In the front and/or rear part, the garment may comprise portions whichare knit in a more wide-meshed manner. Such portions serve to increasethe air permeability. This is particularly advantageous with cyclingpants. Since the entire pants are knit, it is possible to produce thewide-meshed portions by controlling the knitting machinecorrespondingly. Therefore, it is not required to sew in portions with amore wide-meshed structure. Thus, portions with a more wide-meshedstructure can be provided in the pants according to the inventionwithout producing seams thereby which, in turn, cause pressure marks andthe like.

The manufacture of a pair of cycling pants or another garment iseffected by a knitting machine with a front and a back needle bed.Through the needle bed, so-called double-needle-bar meshes are knit.These are extremely fine-meshed meshes.

At the end of each row, the back needle bed, for example, produces aloop. The loop is taken up in front of a needle of the front needle bedso that the yarn of the front needle bed is threaded through the loop.Thereby, the border portions are knit together along a connecting edge.The same connection was made on the other outside of the two needle bedsas well.

In order to manufacture trouser legs, two further connecting edges haveto be manufactured in the middle, extending at the inner surface of thethighs. Thus, the two needle beds are configured such that one of theneedle beds throws out a loop in this region as well, which is taken upby the respectively other needle bed. By controlling the individualneedles of the needle beds correspondingly, the length of the rows canbe varied so that trouser legs can be knit in one piece, which, forexample, become tighter downwards to have an as even contact with thethigh as possible.

Due to the fact that, according to the invention, it is possible tomanufacture the garments without seams it is possible to manufacture thecycling pants illustrated in the drawing.

The cycling pants illustrated in the drawing is a schematic view of apair of pants with straps.

The cycling pants comprise a front part and a rear part 12 lying behindthe front part 10 in the drawing. The front part 10 is knit togetherwith the rear part 12 along outer connecting edges 14. Further, thefront part 10 is knit together with the rear part 12 along an innerconnecting edge 18 extending at the inside of the thighs in order toform trouser legs 16. The connecting edge 18 is configured such that thelegs 16 of the pants taper towards the ends 20 of the legs of the pants.Thus, the lengths of the individual rows of the front part 10 and therear part 12 vary.

At an edge 22 of the front part 10 opposite to the trouser legs 16, twostraps 24 are connected with the front part 10. At the same level, i.e.,at the level of the waistband, the rear part 12 is connected with a backpart 26. When the pants are worn in a conventional manner, the back part26 fits the back of the cyclist. The straps 24 extend over the breast ofthe cyclist.

If the weather is warm, the cyclist wears the pants such that the strapsextend over the breast. Thus, a good cooling is effected in this regionby the airstream. Then, the back part 26 serves to absorb sweat. If theweather is cold, the pants can be worn the other way round so that theback part 26 fits the cyclist's breast in front. Then, the back partserves to keep off the cold airstream.

Turning the pants in such a manner, with the wearing comfort remainingthe same, is only possible because of the seamless configuration of thecycling pants.

1. A garment of a stretch fabric knit in a fine-meshed manner,particularly a pair of cycling pants, comprising a front part (10) and arear part (12) knit independently of each other and simultaneously, thefront part (10) and the rear part (12) being knit together in a seamlessmanner along at least one connecting edge (14,18).
 2. The garmentaccording to claim 1, characterized in that the stretch fabric is smoothand free of beads along the connecting edge (14,18) at both sidesthereof.
 3. The garment according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in thatthe entire garment is manufactured of the same yarn.
 4. The garmentaccording to one of claims 1-3, characterized in that each row of thefront part (10) is knit together with a row of the rear part (12) sothat an uninterrupted connecting edge (14,18) is produced.
 5. Thegarment according to one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the frontpart (10) is knit together with the rear part (12) during the knittingof the front (10) and rear parts (12).
 6. The garment according to oneof claims 1-5, characterized in that knitting together the front part(10) and the rear part (12) is effected by connecting the yarn withwhich the front part (10) is knit and the yarn with which the rear part(12) is knit.
 7. The garment according to one of claims 1-6,characterized in that the mesh width at the connecting edge (14,18)substantially corresponds to the mesh width of the front (10) and rearparts (12).
 8. The garment according to one of claims 1-7, characterizedin that the front (10) and/or the rear part (12) comprise portions knitin a wide-meshed manner to increase the air permeability.
 9. Cyclingpants according to one of claims 1-8, characterized in that knit straps(24) are connected with the front part (10) and a substantially closedback part (26) is connected with the rear part (12).